As I continue to work on my dissertation and continue to attempt to run my fashion line, I thought that I would share some of my designs and talk about Roman fashion in the Roman Republic and Early Imperial Ages! I will start with the women's clothing since I have been working on it for the past few years. Roman clothing is fascinating to learn about - the way they wore their clothes and even the subtle details that could mean a whole world of difference!

*Classes

Roman clothes, of course, differed from one class to another, in styles, materials, and color. For example, the tunic was worn by plebeians (working people) since it was short and easy to move in. Lower classes or people who traveled frequently (like slaves and sheep herders) would wear cheaper, heavier material that was typically dark in color.

The upper classes could afford lighter and better material, which could include silk, wool, and linen. Silk was imported, from the East. Silk was rare and expensive; a luxury afforded only to the richest. Due to the cost of imported clothing, quality garments were also woven from nettle. Wild silk, that is, cocoons collected from the wild after the insect had eaten its way out, also was known. Wild silk, being of smaller lengths, had to be spun. A rare luxury cloth with a beautiful golden sheen, known as sea silk, was made from the long silky filaments or byssus produced by Pinna nobilis, a large Mediterranean seashell.

Women's Clothing

After the 2nd century BC, besides tunics, women wore a simple garment known as a stola and usually followed the fashions of their Greek contemporaries. Over the stola, women often wore the palla, a sort of shawl made of an oblong piece of material that could be worn as a coat, with or without hood, or draped over the left shoulder, under the right arm, and then over the left arm - like a toga.

Women wore a tunica which was adapted from the Greek chiton. The tunica was usually knee-length or floor-length. When married, over this the women wore a stola which was a full length from neck to ankle, high- waisted and fastened at the shoulders with clasps.

Type 1

Roman Fashion 1.jpg (30.15 KiB) Viewed 1750 times

On the far left, there is a Greek peplos, however, this was also a style for Roman women. It was fastened at the shoulders by fibulae and could be made to overlay the chest, or not (this example does fold over the chest). Dresses could be fastened with a belt under the breast (shown on the right), on the waist, or both, depending on the wearer's personal taste. In the middle is a long chiton, similar to a long sleeve tunica (however, short sleeves were also an option). This was a large rectangle of fabric, usually with buttons running up the sleeves to the shoulder and could also be belted.

Type 2

Roman Fashion 2.jpg (41.17 KiB) Viewed 1750 times

These are similar to type 1, just with differing details. On the right is the full ensemble. When a woman married, she wore all of it. On the bottom center is the under- piece. On top of that, she would wear her stola (on the left), and then, as on the right, she would wear her mantle (palla) over all of it!

Remember: these designs are mine and belong to Cassia Longina Designs!

The toga was a long, semi-circular wrap, measuring about 9 yards long, similar to the Greek himation (which was rectangular). The differentiation between rich and poor Romans was made through the quality of the material; the upper-classes wore thin, naturally colored, wool togas while the lower-classes wore coarse material or thin felt. They also differentiated by colors used:

toga praetextata: purple border, worn by male children and magistrates during official ceremoniestoga picta: gold border, used by generals in their triumphstrabea: toga entirely in purple, worn by statues of deities and emperorssaffron: worn by augurs and priestesses, white with a purple band, also worn by consuls on public festivals and equites during a transvectiored border: worn by men and women for festivals

Shoes

Footwear also defined a person's position in society. Women wore closed shoes that were either white, green or yellow. Men wore sandals. Patricians wore red sandals with an ornament at the back. Senators wore brown footwear with black straps which wound round the leg to mid-calf, where the straps were tied. Consuls wore white shoes, and soldiers, heavy boots.